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Helen Kennedy: Recreation Coordinator, Activist, Social Justice Advocate

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Helen Kennedy: Recreation Coordinator, Activist, Social Justice Advocate Helen Kennedy: Recreation Coordinator, Activist, Social Justice Advocate Helen at Love or Love Mural Launch, photo Taejon Cupid Tell us about the Lawrence Heights community in 1984 when you came to work here? It had a bit of a reputation- as a kind of troubled area, but that didn’t worry me because I grew up around Jane and Finch and I wanted to work in a neighbourhood like that. The very first thing I had to do at the Community Centre was remove this group who were squatting in one of the rooms, I guess (laughs) in the Centre - they never had a permit. They were called Neighbourhood Aides - a resident group. It wasn’t my decision, I was just told they had to move because we needed more space for programming. At this time, there was a lot of tension between the predominantly white community that was here first and the Caribbean community that was coming in. So this was a predominantly white group called Neighbourhood Aides led by Jean Lance. I’m not quite sure that they did. They were supposed to assist tenants I guess. They were very anti-housing company, as I remember many tenants were back then. I told them that we needed more space for programming. They were very resistant to moving and called all the politicians and the news. So it was kind of my orientation by fire, I guess you could say. So I started off with not a very good reputation but that was within the “old guard’ of the community. There was other stories as well. There was the Kennedy brothers who were still here at the time and they were part of that old guard - they were living on Varna. I heard a story that they would throw rocks at the black kids coming to the community centre. There was a long history with the Advisory Council. North City Council had to devise Community Centre Advisory Council guidelines in order to deal with the old guard that was here in Lawrence Heights at the time and basically ran the centre. The Neighbourhood Aides group was the last of the old guard. The divide was pretty clear that the people who were coming to the programs at the centre were from the old guard. That was the tension. The staff here weren’t very diverse and the community was changing very quickly. Things weren’t very warm and cozy here. One of the residents here came and had a chat with me and they said to me “Do you know the Kennedy brothers?” Because they thought I was the sister of the Kennedy brothers. Things were changing quickly. It was 1984, not the Toronto we have today. Can you tell us a bit about how the community was changing? The community that was in Lawrence Heights at that time was predominantly white, mostly from down East. The newcomers to the community were mainly from the Caribbean, there were mothers who some had left their children back home with their families. Kids were being reunited at that time too so there was lots of things happening. In any community really, as soon as there’s an influx of new people, there’s a bit of tension so that’s what I saw then. It’s really interesting because I also saw those tensions when I came back to the community in 2000, after being away for a while. By then the community had become a predominantly Caribbean community and the newcomers were from the East African community. So it was some of the same things- the staff here were mostly from the Caribbean and there was tension between the Caribbean and African communities. You started working here in 1984 but left for a time and came back in 2000. Can you tell us about that? I left unwillingly in 1990 and didn’t come back until 2000. I didn’t want to leave Lawrence Heights in the first place. There was a huge issue here with a police raid on the Centre in 1989. I was at home and got a call from the caretaker who said “Helen you better get here, the police are all over.” I was very anxious about what was going to happen. I mean back then, things were not very good between the police and any community really. When I got here, the Emergency Task Force were on the roof with rifles. They wouldn’t let me in here at first- I had to elbow the cop to let me in here. The police had rounded up all the black people in the building and put them in the gym. At the back, there was the Neighbourhood Aides group playing cards and the police went in and said “Don’t worry, stay where you are, we’re dealing with an issue.” What they told all the black youth was that there was a gun call. They took over my office and had the youth come in one at a time and show their ID- so it was a kind of massive carding operation. They tried to plant some weed on one of my staff. I was just freaking out. They arrested one young man- the younger brother of David Mitchell, who became the Chair of the Board of TCHC. Later that night they went to homes in the community and took a sledgehammer to their doors, and took out 10 youth, including the home of Eric James who was THE most upstanding person in the community, amongst the youth. Everybody knew that. And they took him to jail. At this time there were a lot of rob and go’s in the community. People would call for fast food and then take the food. It was not a very good thing to do, but that’s the reality. And that was kind of the beginning of not being able to get fast food after dark in Lawrence Heights. So this one time when it happened, the description of them was tall black athletic youth. When the Bathurst Bears won the Ontario Championships that year, they set up a photo op at the Board of Education office. The police were at the photo and ID’ d the players and then later picked up 10 of the players that night at their homes, including Little George and Paul Watson. When I got to work the next day, Little George was in my office doubled up in pain and he said he’d been beaten by the police in the police station. Paul Watson also was beaten. So I called 32 Division and spoke to the Superintendent who told me I was watching “too much L.A. Law”. I realized then that there was a big problem. So I organized. I called all the moms together and the people who were involved with the Black Action Defense Committee in the early days- Lennox Farrell, Dudley Laws, Sherona Hall- they were all here. There was a big press conference here at the community centre and it was October 29th 1989- I remember that because it was my Dad’s birthday and I forgot to call. My mum was really mad at me (laughs). Bill Shiller covered it for the Toronto Star and the headline in the paper the next day was something like “Why Some Black Parents Lost Faith in the Police”. And that kind of sealed my fate. I was transferred out of here in March 1990. How did you feel about leaving the community? I didn’t want to leave. This was like my home. I had strong connections with people here, especially the youth. I was doing community development and to me the whole press conference and people getting organized was a huge success. The youth were being treated so badly and they were articulating this and it was covered in the media. It was really important that the youth had a place that they felt safe. The youth really had a sense that this was a safe haven for them. I made some changes here- I started hiring youth from the community and getting to know their parents too. You came back to Lawrence Heights in 2000. How did that come about? The staff person who was here at the time was leaving and as soon as I heard that I called the supervisor and said “I’d like to come back” and it was Ok’d. The police were so instrumental in my leaving in 1989 and they were one of the first to come and see me when I came back (laughs). And it was some of the same guys- Pee Wee was one of them. I was really happy to come back. When I came back it was so different. The East African community had migrated and moved in and this was a community I hadn’t worked with before. And it was the same dynamic- the Caribbean community were the power holders and the East African community were the newcomers and they didn’t use the programs at the Centre. Abdi had a permit on the weekend to do basketball and all the East African kids came to the Centre on the weekend to play basketball. One of my first things was to change that picture get to know the East African community and welcome them to the Centre. And I worked with Abdi and the community. I intentionally worked to hire East African youth from the community- but there was some resistance at first.
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